Grunt Work Re-test

Nineteen days ago I tested a Grunt Work AMRAP session of double kettlebell deadlifts and farmers carries. Back then I made it through the round of 12 deadlifts and a final 50 foot farmer carry w/ a pair of 20kg (44lb) kettlebells.

Today I tried it again. Same weights. Differences, today I did it in the early afternoon instead of after work. It was much hotter today (94F vs 80F). I trained in a fasted state. I did the same movement prep I usually do for my Simple and Sinister training whereas I did no warm up last time.

Movement Prep Giant Sets

1. Assisted Squats 3x5
2. Hip Bridge(Raise) 3x5 
3. Kettlebell Halo 3x5 per direction 35lbs.
4. Plank 3x30 secs

In the movement prep I did the planks as a movement in the giant set instead of as a stand alone exercise after the completion of the giant set. I think this allowed me to get more time in the planks as compared to the last few training sessions. Total time was 15:02

Following the formula in the included image I made it up to and completed the round of 16 reps of deadlifts and a final 50 foot farmers carry. Again, I was blasted when I finished. I resisted the urge to collapse on the ground and instead slowly walked around shaking my arms and legs until I got my breathing back under control. 

Finished w/ my normal S&S cool down stretches. I figured that would work as deadlifts and kettlebell swings are both working the hinge pattern.

Cool Down Stretching Super Sets

• 90/90 Stretch 3x30 seconds per side
• QL Straddle Stretch 3x30 seconds per side

Cool down time was 8:23.

Sunday Test Day

Saturday we had a family work day at my father-in-law's house in Aiken, SC. It was the hottest day

of the year to that point! Did lots of outdoor work.  Expected to be sore and tired on Sunday, but I wasn't! I chalk that up to the last month of Simple and Sinister training on average every other day. Since I wasn't sore or tired I went forward with my planned test: 80 one handed swings in 4 minutes or less, 1 minute break, 8 get ups in 8 minutes or less.

Movement Prep Giant Sets

1. Assisted Squats 3x5
2. Hip Bridge(Raise) 3x5 
3. Kettlebell Halo 3x5 per direction 35lbs.

Plank 30 secs, 15 secs, 15 secs

8/10 Simple and Sinister

• One Hand Swings 8x10x16kg
• Get Ups 8x1x16kg

Cool Down Stretching Super Sets

• 90/90 Stretch 3x30 seconds per side
• QL Straddle Stretch 3x30 seconds per side

Movement prep went fine. Got deep in the squats and held it. All the rest was fine. I still need to practice planks more often so I can get to a minute straight with ease. Total prep time 14:31.

On to the test. I used the 16kg kettlebell throughout. I did the swings 15 seconds on, 15 seconds off. It was HARD! I got it done though, 4 minutes 80 swings. One minute rest. Then 8 get ups in less than 8 minutes. Total time 12:47.  I was pretty well smoked after that. Plus it was HOT!

Did my normal cool down stretches. They felt good and took 7:56. Tomorrow I'm going to retest the Grunt Work session I did a couple of weeks ago, deadlifts and farmers carries.  I'll use the 20kg kettlebells again. Last time I completed 12 rounds. Wish me luck for a better score.

Getting Stronger

I almost skipped training today. Waited until late in the afternoon. I got it done.

Movement Prep Giant Sets

1. Assisted Squats 3x5
2. Hip Bridge(Raise) 3x5 
3. Kettlebell Halo 3x5 per direction 35lbs.

Plank 30 secs, 15 secs, 15 secs

8/10 Simple and Sinister

• One Hand Swings 4x10x16kg
• One Hand Swings 4x10x20kg
• Get Ups 4x1x16kg
• Get Ups 4x1x20kg

Cool Down Stretching Super Sets

• 90/90 Stretch 3x30 seconds per side
• QL Straddle Stretch 3x30 seconds per side

I was stiff today. Movement prep was challenging especially squats. But I was warm and loose afterwards. Planks are not getting easier. Prep and planks took 13:00.

The heavier sets of swings and get ups are getting easier. I feel stronger. My shirts are feeling tighter around the arms, shoulders and chest even though I'm not specifically targeting those areas. Sunday is test day, 80 swings in 4 minutes or less followed by 1 minute rest and then 8 get ups in 8 minutes or less. Total time 26:35. Next cycle is 10 sets each, I'll also shave some rest time off for each set.

Normal cool down. Felt good. Was walking better afterwards. Felt really good overall. Cool down took 8:17.

Cool Cloudy Kettlebell Practice

I didn't get a longish walk in yesterday but I did hit my target goal of 7K+ steps. Today is a kettlebell practice day. It is cool and cloudy. Quite lovely for training.

Movement Prep Giant Sets

1. Assisted Squats 3x5
2. Hip Bridge(Raise) 3x5 
3. Kettlebell Halo 3x5 per direction 35lbs.

Plank 30 secs, 15 secs, 15 secs

8/10 Simple and Sinister

• One Hand Swings 4x10x16kg
• One Hand Swings 4x10x20kg
• Get Ups 4x1x16kg
• Get Ups 4x1x20kg

Cool Down Stretching Super Sets

• 90/90 Stretch 3x30 seconds per side
• QL Straddle Stretch 3x30 seconds per side

First set of squats felt better today, especially considering my hip was bothering me by the end of the day yesterday. I think it was hurting because I was in the office yesterday where I have a standing desk. I've been working at home a lot lately where I do not have a standing desk, so my body is not conditioned for it anymore. Got to do better. Anyway, movement prep was good as usual. Followed it up with planks. I think I'm going to have to "grease the groove" daily to get better at planks and not just this every other day 1 minute accumulation. Total time for prep and planks 12:04.

I again did half of my swings and get ups with the 16kg bell and half with the 20kg bell. Still feel strong. No problems. On get ups I focused on rolling up, not crunching. Holding the bell with my left hand it is hard to go from kneeling to standing than while holding the bell with my right hand. In the former it looks like a left foot forward lunge and that is the hip that gives me trouble. It will get BETTER! Total time 26:13

Finished with normal cool down routine. Felt good. Really felt good walking around afterwards. Total time 8:20.

Heavier Kettlebell Simple and Sinister at Lunch

Yesterday, only got in about 6.1K steps which is 900 short of my 7K daily goal. Friday and Saturday were even worse. I didn't do any mobility, flexibility and stability work yesterday either.

Today, I felt good. Decided to go heavier on a few sets of swings and get ups.

Movement Prep Giant Sets

1. Assisted Squats 3x5
2. Hip Bridge(Raise) 3x5 
3. Kettlebell Halo 3x5 per direction 35lbs.

Plank 30 secs, 15 secs, 10 secs, 5 secs

8/10 Simple and Sinister

• One Hand Swings 4x10x16kg
• One Hand Swings 4x10x20kg
• Get Ups 4x1x16kg
• Get Ups 4x1x20kg

Cool Down Stretching Super Sets

• 90/90 Stretch 3x30 seconds per side
• QL Straddle Stretch 3x30 seconds per side

Movement prep and planks took 13:01. Set one of squats equals struggle bus. All the rest of movement prep was fine. I intended to accumulate 60 seconds of plank time in 1x30 seconds and 2x15 seconds. Had to break that last 15 into 10 seconds and 5 seconds. For some reason my shoulders just gave up. I'll do better next time.

As I wrote earlier I was feeling good and strong today so my initial thought was to do 1 set each on each side of swings and get ups at 20kg instead of the 16kg I have been using for the last few weeks. I ended up doing half of all my sets with the 20kg and it felt good. I'll try to repeat this on my next two training sessions. Time was 26:35, which is about twice as long as a test of 8 sets each of swings and gets up should take, 13 minutes.

Did my normal cool down routine. It took 8:01. Got to make sure I do an Original Strength reset at least on the days I don't do kettlebells. I've also been doing 30-60 seconds of the Bretzel 1.0 before bed on kettlebell days.

Cool Shirtless and Barefoot Kettlebell Practice

Working from home again today which let me get my kettlebell practice in around midday. It is unseasonably cool but sunny with a breeze. I almost always train barefoot or in one of my several pairs of Vibram FiveFingers. Today was barefoot. I also found a sunny spot and got shirtless to get a little extra vitamin D.

I was scheduled to do this training session yesterday, but was feeling unusually sluggish and sore still. Mostly my hip from the walk on Sunday. It pays to listen to my body, especially as I get older.

Movement Prep Giant Sets

1. Assisted Squats 3x5
2. Hip Bridge(Raise) 3x5 
3. Kettlebell Halo 3x5 per direction 35lbs.

Plank 30 secs, 15 secs, 15 secs

8/10 Simple and Sinister

• One Hand Swings 8x10x16kg
• Get Ups 8x1x16kg

Cool Down Stretching Super Sets

• 90/90 Stretch 3x30 seconds per side
• QL Straddle Stretch 3x30 seconds per side

I keep forgetting to do my planks after the kettlebell practice so I moved them to the end of movement prep. I was nice and warm after giant sets of movement prep. What was sore felt better. I was nice and loose. Ready to go. It took 11:48 including planks.

As noted I built more time into the sets of swings and get ups to make this more a practice than test. It was still enough work quickly enough to get my heart rate elevated and a good sweat. Swings felt good and powerful. Get ups were solid. Less pain in my hip. Kettlebell practice took 26:16.

Then the cooldown of S&S recommended stretches. These are the most difficult and obviously most needed part of the routine for me, these and squats. I'll start doing goblet squats soon. Need to work on ankle and hip mobility. Cool down took 8:00. Tomorrow I will do a longish walk.

80 Percent Simple and Sinister Practice One

I took two days off after the Gruntwork kettlebell deadlift and farmer carry session on May 8th. Really needed it as I was quite sore, especially my left hip and upper back. Back in the saddle today.

Movement Prep Giant Sets

1. Assisted Squats 3x5
2. Hip Bridge(Raise) 3x5 
3. Kettlebell Halo 3x5 per direction 35lbs.

8/10 Simple and Sinister

• One Hand Swings 8x10x16kg
• Get Ups 8x1x16kg

Cool Down Stretching Super Sets

• 90/90 Stretch 3x30 seconds per side
• QL Straddle Stretch 3x30 seconds per side

Felt good after the movement prep. Warm, loose and ready to go. Prep took 10:05.

Upped sets of swings and get ups to 8, thus the 80% in the title. Took my time with swings with plenty of rest in between sets as this is practice not a test. Same for get ups. Still got my heart rate up and got a good sweat going. Focused on generating power on swings and really squeezing my glutes at the top. Focused on form during get ups, keeping kettlebell arm strait, getting square, etc. Kettlebell practice took 20:35.

I forgot to do my plank practice, bummer. Guess I'll go do one now. Cooled down w/ the recommended S&S stretches. Cool down was 8:30. Everything feels better now. Tomorrow will be a longish (for me) walk. I walked 21:20 this past Thursday.

60 Percent Simple and Sinister Test

Today is my seventh session doing 60 swings and 6 get ups with the 16kg kettlebell. So, as per my plan I'm testing today to see if I can get the swings done in 3 minutes or less, rest a minute, and then get 6 get ups done (alternating sides) in 6 minutes or less. The 60 percent is referring to the number of sets not the weight. The weight I'm using is 50% of the Simple Goal which is to be done with a 32kg, and 33% of the Sinister Goal which requires using a 48kg kettlebell.

Movement Prep Giant Sets

1. Assisted Squats 3x5
2. Hip Bridge(Raise) 3x5 
3. Kettlebell Halo 3x5 per direction 35lbs.

6/10 Simple and Sinister

• One Hand Swings 6x10x16kg
• Get Ups 6x1x16kg

Cool Down Stretching Giant Sets

• 90/90 Stretch 3x30 seconds per side
• QL Straddle Stretch 3x30 seconds per side

Hardstyle Plank 1x30 seconds

I DID IT! I was able to do my 60 swings in 3 minutes! I was sucking wind like crazy, but I did it. My glutes and hamstrings were on fire, but I did it! I also completed my get ups in the alloted 6 minutes. I'm used to doing 1 get up EMOM but not after doing swings in an 1:1 work to rest ratio. Even with the one minute break after the swings my breathing wasn't back to normal, but it was good enough to get the work done.

Next step is to increase to 8 sets each of swings and get ups. Then on my 7th session of that test again. If I can do that in under 13 minutes total, I'll go up to 10 sets of each. But let me not get too far ahead of myself. One training session at a time, grasshopper, one kettlebell practice at a time.

Another Barefoot and Shirtless Kettlebell Session

Trained on schedule, as in only one day off since last session. This is my sixth session since I started this program on 20 April 2019. Should have been my 7th. On Monday I'm going to try to do my swings in 3 minutes or less and my get ups in 6 minutes or less. Today I trained fasted, barefoot and shirtless in the nice sunshine. It's already 84°F!

Movement Prep Giant Sets

1. Assisted Squats 3x5
2. Hip Bridge(Raise) 3x5 
3. Kettlebell Halo 3x5 per direction 35lbs.

6/10 Simple and Sinister

• One Hand Swings 6x10x16kg
• Get Ups 6x1x16kg

Hardstyle Plank 1x30 seconds

Cool Down Stretching Giant Sets

• 90/90 Stretch 3x30 seconds per side
• QL Straddle Stretch 3x30 seconds per side

Less assistance on my squats. I hang out in the bottom for about 5 seconds per rep. Really focused on getting hips high on bridges. Did halo in tall kneeling position. Warm up took 10:39,

Swings went well. Starting to feel light but I'm not going to go up in weight until I'm doing the full ten sets of swings and get ups in the prescribed 5 minutes and 10 minutes respectively. Get ups felt good, too. Left hip felt better today than Thursday. Focused on keeping the elbow of the arm holding the kettlebell straight at all times. Other focus points opening hips and staying square. S&S took 16:00.

After S&S I did 1 set of the hardstyle plank for as long as I could, 30 seconds. Added in the recommended cool down stretching. I really need to work on opening my hips and stretching out my hamstrings. The abs and flexibility/mobility of my lower body are weak points. Total time 9:17.

Barefoot Kettlebell Practice

I should have trained yesterday. I was tired and took a nap after work. Training is only as effective as your rest, recovery and nutrition.

Movement Prep Giant Sets

1. Assisted Squats 3x5
2. Hip Bridge(Raise) 3x5 
3. Kettlebell Halo 3x5 per direction 35lbs.

6/10 Simple and Sinister

• One Hand Swings 6x10x16kg
• Get Ups 6x1x16kg

As I was walking around outside I talked myself up to get my training in. I was thinking I might skip the movement prep and just jump right into the kettlebell practice. However, I kicked off my FiveFingers, got barefoot and did do the prep. Felt good and took 10:32.

Swings were good. Getting easier and in a little better shape, not quite as winded. Get up were a bit challenging with my left up and forward in the lunge position. My hip flexors on that side are tight and sore. Caught myself letting my "posting" shoulder slump a bit, otherwise good form I think. One more thing to be extra mindful of is to alignment in the windmill position. Total time 16:01.

Back Home 60 Percent Simple and Sinister Practice

Drove/rode all day yesterday travelling back to Greenville, SC from New Orleans, LA. Got my practice in this afternoon taking a break from work.

Movement Prep Giant Sets

1. Assisted Squats 3x5
2. Hip Bridge(Raise) 3x5 
3. Kettlebell Halo 3x5 per direction 35lbs.

6/10 Simple and Sinister

• One Hand Swings 6x10x16kg
• Get Ups 6x1x16kg

I did a little reading on the StrongFirst web site and was reminded not to try to beat the clock with each session. I do a good job of doing swings in an EMOM fashion so that is more rest for swings than the S&S goal calls for, 100 swings in 5 minutes. 10 swings EMOM fashion is 10 minutes.

I forget to build more rest into the get up portion, doing them EMOM fashion as well which is pretty much exactly what S&S goal calls for, 10 get up in 10 minutes or less. So today I gave myself 90 seconds for each get up.

Since I'm only doing 6 sets of each right now and this is my fourth session, in about 6 days I'll be doing my 7th session at this level. On that 7th session I'll see if I can get 60 swings in 3 minutes, rest 1 minute and then do 6 get ups in 6 minutes.

Almost Skipped Kettlebell Practice

Was still a little sore from Saturday. Got home late from work. Almost talked myself out of doing my session today. But told myself it will only be 13 minutes. I can do just about anything for 13 minutes.

6/10 Simple and Sinister

• One Hand Swings 6x10x16kg
• Get Ups 6x1x16kg

Did it. Felt a little easier than Saturday, especially the get ups. Hamstrings and glutes are sore now though! Feel better about myself for having done it, too.

Out of Shape

Been doing some loaded carries w/ my 16kg kettlebells sporadically over the last week. Decided to get an actual workout in today. I did a round of Waiter/Suitcase carries as a bit of a warm up. Then on to

6/10 Simple and Sinister

• One Hand Swings 6x10x16kg
• Get Ups 6x1x16kg

I did one hand swings 10 reps EMOM. Left hand on odd minutes, right hand on even minutes. Followed by 1 minute rest. Get ups 1 rep EMOM. Left hand on odd minutes, right hand on even minutes. This short workout after many months of not doing any training of this nature left me huffing and puffing. Feel a little sore already. Wonder what tomorrow will bring?

Saturday Morning Kettlebells

Went to bed late. Slept in. Got started training late after a couple of cups of coffee, morning mobility and a little reading. Of course that means it was hotter than when I usually train by about 10 degrees Fahrenheit.

Original Strength Reset

• Cross Crawl - 20 per side 
• Crocodile Breathing - 2 minutes
• Head Nods - 20 reps
• Rolling - 4 reps left and right first leading w/ arms then legs
• Rocking - 50 reps
• Crawling - 3 minutes

Simple and Sinister

• Two Hand Kettlebell Swings  6 x 10 x 53 lbs
• Turkish Get Ups L, R, L, R, L, R x 1 x 53 lbs

Loaded Carries

• Waiter-Rack-Suitcase Carry with 44 lb Kettlebell (left then right)
• 2 x Farmer's Walk with 2 44 lb Kettlebells

As usual did an Original strength reset to warm up. I did more rocking than normal, with some extra stuff for both shoulders and hip flexors. Felt really good. Crawled farther than usual in the same three minutes. I should try some 4 point (hands and feet) crawling soon instead of the 6 point (hands, knees, & feet) crawling I've been doing. Total time 16:22.

Planned kettlebell practice today called for six sets each of swings and get ups. Stuck with that plan but decided to tack on some loaded carries at the end. I haven't done any of those since July 27th. Swings were easy. Get ups were going well. As I was completing my fourth rep my wife came out to take her car to the store so I had to move out of her way and pause for about 1.5 minutes. Then I got right back to it and finished strong. So, what was planned to take 13 minutes took about 14.5.

On to the carries after a two minute break. I started with my left hand. Went down the driveway in waiter's position, back up in rack position, then down and back in suitcase position. Repeated with my right hand. Then two rounds of farmer's walks with two 44s. I took one minute rest between each round of carries. So the total kettlebell time was 25:28. Met my step goal yesterday for the first time since the 27th.

Cloudy Cool Summer Morning Simple and Sinister

I ate three good meals and a snack yesterday. I went to bed early again, like 2115 or so. I did not get
in all my steps yesterday but more than I have for the last several days.

I got up this morning around 0630 but didn't get started training until just after 0800. This morning was partly cloudy and cool but with high humidity.











Original Strength Reset

• Cross Crawl - 20 per side 
• Crocodile Breathing - 2 minutes
• Head Nods - 20 reps
• Rolling - 4 reps left and right first leading w/ arms then legs
• Rocking - 30 reps
• Crawling - 3 minutes

Simple and Sinister

• Two Hand Kettlebell Swings  10 x 10 x 53 lbs
• Turkish Get Ups R, L, R, L, R, L, R, L, R, L x 1 x 53 lbs

Good warm up session. Consistent original strength resets seem to be helping my hip. It hurts some but not nearly as much as it was a couple of weeks ago. Warm up time was 14:37.

Kettlebell swings were crisp and strong. Felt really good today. I need to do a little more practice with one hand swings. Maybe the next 3 day cycle I'll drop back down to 44lbs and do all one hand swings for that 3 day cycle. Get ups were strong and solid w/ a couple of wobbles here and there but nothing major. I tell you what though, holding the 53 in full straight arm extension really works the triceps! My triceps were on fire by the 3rd or 4th pair of reps. Total kettlebell time 21:19. 

Morning Kettlebell Practice

I didn't train yesterday. I only got 5.5 hours of sleep so I wasn't ready to train. I also had decided to
fast yesterday, and I made it about 18 or 19 hours. Nice intermittent fast. Last night I got over 8 hours of sleep after a good dinner. I woke up ready to go today. It was cool this morning but decidedly higher humidity.













Original Strength Reset

• Cross Crawl - 20 per side 
• Crocodile Breathing - 2 minutes
• Head Nods - 20 reps
• Rolling - 4 reps left and right first leading w/ arms then legs
• Rocking - 40 reps
• Crawling - 3 minutes

Simple and Sinister

• Two Hand Kettlebell Swings  8 x 10 x 53 lbs
• Turkish Get Ups L, R, L, R, L, R, L, R x 1 x 53 lbs

Did the normal warm up. Felt good. Only took 13:38. Nice sweat going. Moved on to the kettlebell practice. Only did 8 sets today. Stayed with the 24kg (53 lb) kettlebell. Didn't do anything extra. Needed to get cleaned up and into work for a 1000 meeting. Kettlebell practice took 17 minutes per plan. I forgot to take off my shirt but I did train barefoot. I still have not gotten my goal number of steps since Thursday July 27th. Hopefully I'll get them in today.

Quick Kettlebell Practice

I didn't train yesterday. I only got six hours of sleep the night before. I trained hard the day before yesterday and didn't really feel up to it yesterday. I listened to my body. I ate two good meals, lunch and dinner. I was good to go this morning.

I didn't wear my Fitbit Blaze to bed last night, it needed a charge. So, I don't have an exact measurement of my sleep last night. I estimate I got between 7 and 8 hours of sleep. Like I said, I felt very good when I got up this morning. The weather is awesome...and strange. The low last night was 66°F and the humidity this morning was only 39%. This made for super comfortable training conditions. I trained barefoot and shirtless as normal.

Original Strength Reset

• Cross Crawl - 20 per side 
• Crocodile Breathing - 2 minutes
• Head Nods - 20 reps
• Rolling - 4 reps left and right first leading w/ arms then legs
• Rocking - 20 reps
• Crawling - 3 minutes

Simple and Sinister

• Two Hand Kettlebell Swings  6 x 10 x 53 lbs
• Turkish Get Ups R, L, R, L, R, L x 1 x 53 lbs

I'm still going to cycle my training for now as follows 10 sets day one, 6 sets day two, 8 sets day three, then repeat. Taking rest days as appropriate of course. Today was a 6 set day. That came in handy as I had an 0900 meeting today for work.

Warm up was as usual, nothing extra. Just enough to get a light sweat going, muscles & joints warm and flexible. Total time 13:49. Kettlebell practice was short and sweet. Nothing much to say, felt good. Total time 13:54. I've not been getting my steps in everyday since I went on vacation. I'll make a more concerted effort to do so from today on.

Back Home Simple and Sinister

Took yesterday off from my kettlebell practice. We cleaned the beach house, packed the Toyota Sequoia and drove home from Isle of Palms, SC to Greenville, SC. Once we got home we of course had to unpack the SUV. I walked as much as I could at rest stops and during the above mentioned process but only got in 6244 steps.

Did my morning mobility (did it yesterday, too) but took a long time to get outside and get to my training. The weather is really nice. The humidity is only 35% here at home versus 64% at IoP. Yesterday it was 76% humidity on IoP! The temperature is only 83°F! That's crazy comfortable conditions for July 30th! But despite the nice weather I still made a sweat angel after I finished my practice session. As usual I trained barefoot and shirtless.

Original Strength Reset

• Cross Crawl - 20 per side 
• Crocodile Breathing - 2 minutes
• Head Nods - 20 reps
• Rolling - 4 reps left and right first leading w/ arms then legs
• Rocking - 40 reps
• Crawling - 3 minutes

Simple and Sinister

• Two Hand Kettlebell Swings  10 x 10 x 53 lbs
• Turkish Get Ups L, R, L, R, L, R, L, R, L, R x 1 x 53 lbs

Normal warm up. Nothing special to say, except my left hip and glute felt a little achy. Maybe the glute medius? Not sure. Need to get myself an anatomy book. Total warm up time was 13:01.

After six straight and solid sessions using the 44 lb kettlebell at the beach in much hotter and more humid conditions I felt like going up to the 53 lb (24 kg) bell today. I put the  44 lb (20 kg) bell in easy reach in case I needed to use a lighter weight. But I didn't need it.

I cranked out my 10 sets of 10 swings. The first couple of reps of the swings took me a little by surprise as the weight was a little more than I expected. Felt heavier but it made me focus and every rep thereafter was solid. Felt good once I was done.

I was a little more uncertain about using the 53 for the getups. I was a little wobbly in the beginning but got more solid as the reps went on. I did take 11 minutes to get them done rather than the allotted 10 minutes. Felt great, nice challenge. I know I'm getting stronger. total kettlebell time 22:02.

BTW, I haven't eaten since dinner yesterday. I weighed 245 before we left on vacation last Saturday, today I weighed in at 250.4. That's the wrong direction and far outside of where I should be by my plan. At this point I should be between 229 and 240.59. If I was right on target I would be at 234.79. So, I'm nearly 10 pounds over what my maximum weight should be at this point, and about 15 pounds over my target. 

I'm not going to beat myself up though, because I'm still 12 pounds down from the beginning of the year. I do need to get serious about my nutrition. So, I'm gonna see if I can kick this week off w/ a 72 hour fast. After that I need to keep my carbs low and limit consumption of calorie laden beverages like beer and alcohol. Back on track I will be!

Six Days of Simple and Sinister

Was feeling slugging this morning. Did my morning mobility routine. Slowly made my way down to the beach after breakfast and eventually got started on my training.

Original Strength Reset

• Cross Crawl - 20 per side 
• Crocodile Breathing - 2 minutes
• Head Nods - 20 reps
• Rolling - 4 reps left and right first leading w/ arms then legs
• Rocking - 40 reps
• Crawling - 3 minutes

Simple and Sinister

• Two Hand Kettlebell Swings  8 x 10 x 44 lbs
• Turkish Get Ups L, R, L, R, L, R, L, R x 1 x 44 lbs

Warm up was normal felt less sluggish afterward. Good enough to do my kettlebell practice. Warm up time was 13:25. And boy was it hot as I didn't get started training until 1135.

Today I did 80% S&S, 8 sets of 10 swings and 8 get ups. Didn't feel to bad. I thought I would be a lot more sore after the kayaking yesterday, but I guess my off again on again kettlebell practice has built some resiliency in my muscles. Felt good. Total kettlebell time was 17:00.

I didn't do any extra cool down. No loaded carries other than carrying my kettlebell to the beach and back. I did of course jump in the ocean and cool down. Good day.

Kayaking and Kettlebells

Got up a little later this morning. Did my morning mobility routine. Then after breakfast we went kayaking on Shem Creek. When we started out I quickly realized just how pre-exhausted my hands, forearms and shoulders were from my daily kettlebell routine. But once I got going, got warmed up everything felt okay. We spent about two hours on the water. It was fun. We saw lots of water birds and a dolphin. Unfortunately we didn't see any manatees this time. I drank about 1.2 liters of water while we were out.

After we got back to the beach house I drank a couple of small Gatorades and more water and headed to the beach carrying my kettlebell, a chair, towel and my string bag w/ a book and my electronics.

It was early afternoon and getting hotter but there was still some good cloud cover. After sitting and watching the waves for a while I got started with my Original Strength warm up and kettlebell practice.

Original Strength Reset

• Cross Crawl - 20 per side 
• Crocodile Breathing - 2 minutes
• Head Nods - 20 reps
• Rolling - 4 reps left and right first leading w/ arms then legs
• Rocking - 40 reps
• Crawling - 3 minutes

Simple and Sinister

• One Hand Kettlebell Swings  L, R, L, R, L, R x 10 x 44 lbs
• Turkish Get Ups L, R, L, R, L, R x 1 x 44 lbs

Finisher

• Waiter Walk - Rack Carry - Suitcase Carry 30 secs, 30 secs, 1 minute, rest 30 secs, repeat series w/ other hand

I did my warm up. Felt good. Of course I was covered in sand by the time I was done rolling and crawling. Nobody came up and asked me what I was doing like they did on Tuesday, though of course I drew funny looks. Total warm up time was 12:46.

Today was a 60% Simple and Sinister day. I decided to do all my swings today one handed. It worked well even though my arms, shoulders and lats had been worked thoroughly by the kayaking. In fact the swings felt really good. Screwed my feet into the sand and no hip or knee pain. The getups we solid. No wobbling, no stumbling, no slipping even though I was in the sand. After I completed the getups, I was so hot and sand covered that I stopped my timer and went into the ocean for a few minutes. Total time was 12:41.

After I got out of the water, I dried off and sat and watched people and waves for a few minutes. Then I did my loaded carries. I started with my left hand and walked away from my chair for 30 seconds in the waiter position, dropped down to front rack for 30 seconds, then suitcase carry for 60 seconds. I rested for 30 seconds, picked up the bell with my right hand then walked back to my chair using the same sequence of positions. I sat and rested for about 2 minutes or so, then did another series left hand then right hand. I didn't make it quite as far down the beach the second time, but I was close. Total time for the carrying was about 11 minutes.

Then I jumped back into the water! The water was nice. The tide was way out, the waves were gentle. I just floated and swam and floated and swam. Wonderful way to end my training.